1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cyclonic vacuum cleaner and, more specifically, to a cyclonic vacuum cleaner having a cyclonic station that maintains a vertical position when the vacuum is maneuvered across a floor space.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the last decade, the convenience of bagless dust collection and emptying has made cyclonic vacuum cleaners the most successful ones marketed because they don't require consumers to purchase replacement bags. The method of removing particles from the air by means of cyclonic separation is well known in the art and, furthermore, its known uses, in combination with filters, have improved the design, the quality and the efficiency of vacuum cleaners. The present invention improves on the cyclonic design by constructing a cyclonic station that always maintains a complete, vertical position when the vacuum is pushed and maneuvered across a floor space. As is well known in the art, there are a number of vertical standing and upright vacuums having cyclonic air flows. A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the present invention; however, the following references were considered related.
Of considerable relevance is the cyclonic dirt cup assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,434, wherein an inverted, truncated cone positioned within the dirt cup of a vacuum cleaner directs an airstream in a cyclonic manner. Tapered walls assist the cyclonic action.
The cyclonic vacuum cleaner of U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,594 to Inoue discloses an approximate cylinder shaped cyclonic portion comprised in a dust collecting portion having two ventilating holes to always ensure a vortex flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,044 to Bilek et al. discloses a dirt collecting system for a vacuum cleaner comprising two dirt collecting chambers separated by apertured walls wherein course particles are pre-filtered into the first chamber and fine particles are filtered into the second chamber.
The upright vacuum cleaner with cyclonic air flow taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,164 comprises a suction source that pulls air into a cyclonic air flow chamber. The airstream travels in a cyclonic path so contaminates are separated into a dirt container. A main filter filters residual contaminants and a final filter assembly filters the suction airstream discharged from the source.
These and many other vacuum cleaners comprise stand-up cyclonic dirt assembly portions; however, a disadvantage to all of their designs is that the handle portion is attached to these cyclonic portions. Therefore, when a person pushes and pulls the vacuum cleaner across a floor space, the cyclonic portion also changes angles with the handle from an approximate vertical position to a near horizontal position. The vacuum becomes less efficient as it is pushed into the horizontal position.
The movement of air in the dirt assembly is vortical or solenoidal. The rotational effects are used to separate particles in a cyclonic rotation process. As air flows through the cyclone, it rotates about an axis. The larger particles that have too much inertia follow the tight curve, strike the outside wall and fall due to gravity. Centripetal acceleration separates substances of larger and smaller densities because particles moving in the cylinder at a constant speed have changing directions and motion.
The centripetal force is affected by the mass of an object, the velocity (squared) its traveling and the distance its traveling about an axis. Although the effects of velocity and gravity are almost negligible for minute particles, they both affect the separation of larger particles. In a mostly vertical position, the velocity (vectors) of the particles traveling around the axis of the dust assembly is increasing because the particles are always falling with gravity as well as moving in a curved, downwards direction. When vacuums are pushed towards a more horizontal position, the angular velocity fluctuates because the particle falls with gravity and climbs against gravity around the horizontal axis of the air flow. The amount of inertia, or the particle's momentum, is constantly changing with the changing velocity.
A particle's momentum is directly related to its mass and its velocity. Therefore, fewer particles will strike the outside wall if the inertia is constantly changing. Because the efficiency of a vacuum is decreased in the more horizontal positions during the cleaning process, a long-felt need exists for a vacuum cleaner that provides for a constant or an increasing velocity in the cyclonic portion so that the increased acceleration can separate a greater number of particles having a greater number of densities. This need is met in the present invention, wherein the suction channel, the handle and the other portions of the vacuum cleaner are affixed to one another while the dirt assembly portion is pivotally affixed to the other components so that it will always maintain a vertical position.